Chapter 3 - The Woman He Refused to Leave Behind
Elena woke in Adrian Vale’s bedroom.
That realization came in stages.
First, she noticed the ceiling.
Dark wood.
Then the sheets.
Black linen.
Then the man sitting in an armchair beside the bed.
Adrian.
She screamed.
He nearly dropped his coffee.
“What are you doing?”
Elena grabbed the blanket.
“What am I doing?”
“You were unconscious.”
“In your bed!”
“You needed somewhere to sleep.”
“There are hospitals.”
“You refused the ambulance.”
“I was unconscious!”
“Exactly. You were extremely difficult to negotiate with.”
Elena stared.
Marcus stood near the door.
He looked exhausted.
“Morning, Ms. Marlowe.”
“What happened?”
Marcus explained.
The gas had been a fast-acting industrial anesthetic mixed with an irritant. Dangerous, but probably intended to incapacitate rather than kill immediately.
“Comforting,” Elena muttered.
Adrian handed her water.
She took it.
“Where are we?”
“My residence.”
“Penthouse?”
“Yes.”
“Of course.”
She drank.
Then memory returned.
“Laptop.”
“Safe.”
“Files?”
“Safe.”
“Warren?”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“Missing.”
Elena closed her eyes.
She had worked under Warren Pike for two years.
He had belittled her in meetings, stolen credit, assigned her impossible workloads and laughed whenever she complained.
But she had never believed him capable of attempted murder.
“I need to call Corwin.”
“No.”
She glared.
“We’ve discussed your relationship with that word.”
“Someone inside Corwin gave you fraudulent credentials.”
“That doesn’t mean everyone there is involved.”
“It means we don’t know who is.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“We found something else.”
He handed Elena a tablet.
Security footage appeared.
Warren Pike entered Vale Meridian at 1:42 a.m.
He was carrying a black case.
At 2:03, he entered a mechanical room near the restricted archive.
At 2:11, another man joined him.
Dominic Vale.
Elena stared.
“There.”
Adrian’s uncle was older than Adrian by almost thirty years. Silver hair. Expensive coat. Calm expression.
The footage showed them speaking.
Then Warren handed Dominic the black case.
“What was inside?” Elena asked.
“We don’t know.”
Adrian’s voice was flat.
“Twenty minutes later, the archive ventilation was compromised.”
Elena looked at him.
“You think your uncle tried to kill us.”
“I think my uncle is going to have a very unpleasant conversation with me.”
She noticed his hands.
Still.
Too still.
“Adrian.”
His eyes met hers.
“Don’t kill him.”
Marcus looked suddenly interested in the ceiling.
Adrian’s expression became unreadable.
“You assume a great deal about me.”
“I’ve read newspapers.”
“Newspapers exaggerate.”
“So you’re not mafia?”
Adrian paused.
“I didn’t say they invent everything.”
Elena sighed.
“Wonderful.”
He almost smiled.
Then his phone rang.
Marcus answered instead.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Adrian stood.
Marcus ended the call.
“They found Pike.”
Elena sat straighter.
“Where?”
“Lower Wacker.”
“Alive?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Yes.”
Elena exhaled.
“But barely.”
Twenty minutes later they arrived at a private hospital.
Warren had been beaten severely.
His left arm was broken.
Two ribs fractured.
Elena stood behind glass watching doctors work.
Despite everything, she felt sick.
Adrian noticed.
“You don’t have to see him.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“Because someone wants me afraid.”
She looked at Adrian.
“I’m tired of letting other people decide what scares me.”
He said nothing.
Warren regained consciousness that afternoon.
Elena entered with Adrian.
Warren’s eyes widened.
“Elena.”
“Who did this?”
His gaze moved toward Adrian.
“Not him,” Elena said.
Adrian raised an eyebrow.
“You sound very confident.”
“Am I wrong?”
“No.”
Warren swallowed painfully.
“Dominic.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Why?”
“Because I failed.”
“At what?”
Warren looked at Elena.
“Killing the audit.”
Her stomach dropped.
“You knew?”
“I knew money was moving. I didn’t know where.”
“You told me to stop.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“By humiliating me?”
“By making everyone think I didn’t value your work.”
She froze.
Warren continued.
“Dominic noticed you after the first meeting. He asked why you kept challenging reconciliations.”
Elena remembered.
All the interruptions.
All the dismissive jokes.
“You made me look incompetent on purpose?”
“Yes.”
“That’s your defense?”
“No.”
Warren’s eyes filled.
“It’s my shame.”
Adrian moved closer.
“What did Dominic want?”
Warren looked terrified.
“The files.”
“What files?”
“Not the money.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
Warren whispered.
“The six million was camouflage.”
Elena frowned.
“For what?”
Warren struggled to breathe.
“The transfers weren’t theft.”
Adrian leaned closer.
“Then what were they?”
“Payments.”
“To whom?”
Warren’s monitor began accelerating.
He grabbed Elena’s wrist.
“Your father.”
Elena went still.
“My father is dead.”
Warren stared at her.
“No.”
Her world stopped.
Elena’s father, Thomas Marlowe, had disappeared seventeen years earlier.
Police had eventually declared him dead.
Her mother had raised Elena alone.
“What did you say?”
Warren’s fingers tightened.
“Thomas Marlowe is alive.”
Elena could barely hear herself.
“Where?”
Warren’s eyes moved toward Adrian.
“He knows what Dominic did.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“What did Dominic do?”
Warren opened his mouth.
Then alarms erupted.
His body convulsed.
A nurse rushed in.
Adrian pulled Elena back.
Doctors surrounded Warren.
“Get her out,” Marcus shouted.
They moved into the hallway.
Elena resisted.
“What happened?”
“Someone altered his IV.”
Marcus was already speaking into his radio.
Adrian looked toward the far end of the corridor.
A nurse in blue scrubs was walking quickly toward an exit.
Too quickly.
“Marcus.”
Marcus saw her.
They ran.
The woman disappeared through the stairwell.
Elena stood frozen.
Her father.
Alive.
Adrian turned back toward her.
“Elena.”
She looked at him.
“Seventeen years.”
Her voice cracked.
“My mother died believing he abandoned us.”
Adrian reached toward her.
Stopped.
Then waited.
Elena closed the distance herself.
She pressed her forehead against his chest.
For several seconds, Adrian did not move.
Then his arms closed carefully around her.
Not possession.
Protection.
Elena whispered, “Find him.”
Adrian looked down.
“My father.”
Her eyes were wet but steady.
“Find him for me.”
Adrian’s expression became something darker than anger.
“I will.”
Behind them, the hospital room fell silent.
May you like
Warren Pike was dead.
And the last thing he had given Elena was a truth someone had spent seventeen years trying to bury.
